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Abstract

In order to accurately describe the behavior of an antenna, one needs to
understand the radiation mechanisms that govern its operation. One way to
gain such an insight is to view the fields and currents present on a
radiating structure. Unfortunately, in close proximity to an antenna
empirical techniques fail because the measurement probe alters the
operation of the radiating structure. Computational methods offer a solution
to this problem. By simulating the operation of an antenna, one can
obtain electromagnetic field data near (or even internal to) a radiating
structure. However, these computationally intense techniques often
generate extremely large data sets that cannot be adequately interpreted
using traditional graphical approaches.

A visualization capability is developed that allows an analysis of the
above-mentioned data sets. With this technique, the data is viewed from a
unique, global perspective. This format is well suited for analytical
investigations as well as debugging during modeling and simulation. An
illustrative example is provided in the context of a rectangular
microstrip patch antenna. A comparison is performed between the
visualized data and the theory of operation for the microstrip patch in order to
demonstrate that radiation mechanisms can be obtained visually.

An additional analysis tool is developed using Gabor filters and image-processing
techniques. This tool allows one to detect and filter electromagnetic
waves propagating with different velocities (both speed and
direction). By doing so, each mode of an antenna can be analyzed
independently. The fields of a multi-moded, open-ended rectangular
waveguide are analyzed in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of these
techniques.